Apple is raising App Store prices across Europe and Asia

Apple has announced that it’s raising the prices of both apps and in-app purchases, not including auto-renewable subscriptions, across several regions starting on October 5th. All territories using the Euro currency are affected, along with Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden and Vietnam. Apple says the price increase in Vietman reflects new laws that require the company to collect value added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax.

The amount added to old prices vary, based on the list of updated pricing tier (PDF) the tech giant has published. Apps that currently cost 99 cents will set users back €1.19 in Euro territories, while those that cost €4.99 will cost a Euro more at €5.99. The additional charge gets bigger the higher one goes in the pricing tier — purchases that cost €14.99, for instance, will cost people €17.99 instead.

Apple didn’t explain the reason behind the price hike for most territories aside from Vietnam. For Euro-using countries, it could be partly because of the fact that the Euro is weak against the dollar and even fell below parity for the first time in almost two decades. Perhaps this price hike shouldn’t come as a surprise because of that, seeing as people are also expected to pay much, much more for the iPhone 14 in Europe than in the US. The iPhone 14 Pro, for instance, will set buyers back $999 in the US. Converted, that’s only €997, but the model is priced at €1,299 in Germany, €1,319 in Spain and €1,339 in Italy.

Microsoft confirms its recent Series X update lets Xbox One discs be played offline

Xbox’s online DRM has been one of the biggest issues with Xbox Series X consoles, as outages and other issues have left players with no access to purchased games. Another big complaint is that cross-platform Xbox One disc games have been inaccessible offline, even with games that don’t require a connection. Now, a new update means you won’t be forced to do an internet check or download from an Xbox One disc anymore, engineering lead Eden Marie confirmed in a tweet.

Users started noticing the change recently, but it has been in place since the 2206 update earlier this summer, Marie said. “We examined data since Series X|S launch & determined the online compatibility check isn’t needed in the vast majority of cases for Xbox One discs. Some games may still need to be updated online after install to ensure the best experience,” she added.

What was the problem before? The issue essentially revolved around Microsoft’s Smart Delivery system. Previously, when you inserted various types of Xbox One/Xbox Series X game discs on a new-gen console, it wouldn’t install the game straight from the disc — rather, it would install an updated version via the internet. This, despite the fact that Series X consoles are perfectly capable of playing most Xbox One games directly (the main exception being Kinect games).

What this means it that you can now play many games offline that are branded “Xbox One,” “Xbox One/Xbox Series X,” “Xbox Series X/Xbox One” and “Xbox Series X.” However, you can’t play original Xbox or Xbox 360 games without updates, as the data “can’t be used directly,” according to Eden. (Most of this doesn’t apply to the Xbox Series S, of course, because it doesn’t have a disc drive.)

There are a few other exceptions as well. For instance, some disc games known as “stubs,” like Forza Horizon 5 or Halo Infinite, don’t contain the full version of the game — so you’ll need a connection for those. You’ll also need the internet to download the latest versions of games, along with expansion packs, etc. And Series X consoles require an account, so you’ll need to be online at least once to set that up. Still, the update is a good step and means you’ll be able to play a lot more games in the not-so-rare event that Microsoft’s servers go down.

YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works, according to new study on recommendations

If you’ve ever felt like it’s difficult to “un-train” YouTube’s algorithm from suggesting a certain type of video once it slips into your recommendations, you’re not alone. In fact, it may be even more difficult than you think to get YouTube to accurately understand your preferences. One major issue, according to new research conducted by Mozilla, is that YouTube’s in-app controls such as the “dislike” button, are largely ineffective as a tool for controlling suggested content. According to the report, these buttons “prevent less than half of unwanted algorithmic recommendations.”

Researchers at Mozilla used data gathered from RegretsReporter, its browser extension that allows people to “donate” their recommendations data for use in studies like this one. In all, the report relied on millions of recommended videos, as well as anecdotal reports from thousands of people.

Mozilla tested the effectiveness of four different controls: the thumbs down “dislike” button, “not interested,” “don’t recommend channel” and “remove from watch history.” The researchers found that these had varying degrees of effectiveness, but that the overall impact was “small and inadequate.”

Of the four controls, the most effective was “don’t recommend from channel,” which prevented 43 percent of unwanted recommendations, while “not interested” was the least effective and only prevented about 11 percent of unwanted suggestions. The “dislike” button was nearly the same at 12 percent, and “remove from watch history” weeded out about 29 percent.

In their report, Mozilla’s researchers noted the great lengths study participants said they would sometimes go to in order to prevent unwanted recommendations, such as watching videos while logged out or while connected to a VPN. The researchers say the study highlights the need for YouTube to better explain its controls to users, and to give people more proactive ways of defining what they want to see.

“The way that YouTube and a lot of platforms operate is they rely a lot of passive data collection in order to infer what your preferences are,” says Becca Ricks, a senior researcher at Mozilla who co-authored the report. “But it’s a little bit of a paternalistic way to operate where you’re kind of making choices on behalf of people. You could be asking people what they want to be doing on the platform versus just watching what they’re doing.”

Mozilla’s research comes amid increased calls for major platforms to make their algorithms more transparent. In the United States, lawmakers have proposed bills to scale back “opaque” recommendation algorithms and to hold companies accountable for algorithmic bias. The European Union is even farther ahead. The recently passed Digital Services Act will require platforms to explain how recommendation algorithms work and open them to outside researchers.

South Korean prosecutors ask Interpol for help in locating TerraUSD developer Do Kwon

Over the weekend, Terraform Labs’ CEO and co-founder Do Kwon took to Twitter to say that he was not “on the run” or “anything similar.” He made the statement after South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for him and five other people connected to Terraform Labs for violating the country’s capital markets laws last week. But Korean prosecutors aren’t convinced, especially since authorities in Singapore, where Kwon flew to back in April, said he was no longer in the country. Now, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office is asking the Interpol to place him in the agency’s red notice list and to revoke his passport, according to The Financial Times. 

According to the Interpol’s website, a red notice entails seeking “the location and arrest of wanted persons wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence” and is commonly issued for fugitives. As Yonhap News notes, Kwon flew to Singapore in late April around the time he dissolved his company’s office in Korea. His family members and other key Terraform Labs personnel reportedly followed him to the city-state in May. 

The executive and other Terraform Labs’ personnel are under investigation for financial fraud and tax evasion following the collapse of the company’s stablecoins, TerraUSD and Luna. $40 billion of investor money was wiped out from the even. And those investors, who lost their life savings to the crash, filed complaints that accuse him of running a Ponzi scheme. 

Prosecutors believe he left Korea to “evade investigation,” seeing as Kwon also apparently told them through his lawyers that he didn’t intend to appear before them for questioning. A spokesperson for the Seoul prosecutors’ office told The Times that they’re doing their best to locate and arrest him. “He is clearly on the run as his company’s key finance people also left for the same country during that time,” they added. 

Kwon has yet to respond to the prosecutors enlisting the Interpol for help in finding him. On Twitter, his location is still set to Singapore, and his latest tweets were still from the weekend, denying that he was trying to avoid being captured by law enforcement. 

Judge orders release of ‘Serial’ podcast subject Adnan Syed

A Baltimore judge has overturned the conviction of Adnan Syed, reports The Associated Press. The 41-year-old had been serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee. In 2014, his case attracted international interest after it was chronicled by former Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Koenig in the first season of the hit podcast Serial.

Koenig spent more than a year investigating the specifics of Syed’s case, focusing in particular on the conduct of his lawyer, Cristina Gutierrez. In 2019, Maryland’s highest court found Gutierrez had failed to properly investigate an alibi witness but voted against granting Syed’s request for a retrial. However, prosecutors recently recommended that a judge grant him a new trial, noting the state had lost “confidence in the integrity of the conviction.” With Monday’s decision, the state has 30 days to decide whether to move forward with a new trial or drop the case entirely.

“This is not a podcast for me,” said Young Lee, the brother of Hae Min Lee, during Monday’s hearing. He said his family felt “betrayed” and “blindsided” by the state’s motion to vacate Syed’s conviction. “Whenever I think it’s over, and it’s ended, it always comes back,” he added.

Following the decision, Serialannounced it would air a new episode on Tuesday morning. In the years since its widely successful first season, Serial has produced a series of spinoffs, including S-Town and The Trojan Horse Affair. More broadly, it’s safe to say the true crime genre and podcasting more generally have never been more popular – even if the series was never quite able to replicate the success of its first season. 

James Webb Space Telescope’s first pictures of Mars could reveal more about the atmosphere

The James Webb Space Telescope is still snapping its first pictures of Solar System planets, and the latest batch could be particularly useful. NASA and the ESA have shared early images of Mars, taken on September 5th, that promise new insights into th…

Ford thinks Bluetooth LE can keep pedestrians and cyclists safe from cars

One good thing that came out of the pandemic is that more people picked up cycling. In the first three months of 2021, American consumer spending on bikes and cycling accessories increased by 34 percent year on year to $8.2 billion. However, the pandemic also saw more die and suffer injuries while biking. According to the National Safety Council, 1,260 cyclists were killed in 2020, a 16 percent increase from 2019.

It’s a problem that Ford thinks technology can address. On Monday, the automaker announced it’s working with Commsignia, PSS, Ohio State University, T-Mobile and Tome Software to explore how a smartphone app could warn drivers of pedestrians and cyclists they may not see. As someone sharing the road with a car, you would install the company’s software on your phone. With the help of Bluetooth Low Energy, vehicles with Ford’s Sync infotainment system would see you as “beacons.” If the car then determines there’s the potential for a crash, it will warn the driver using audiovisual cues.

According to Ford, its approach has a few advantages. One is that Bluetooth LE is nearly ubiquitous. The technology has been part of the Bluetooth protocol since 2009, meaning every modern smartphone has access to it. If you own a Ford vehicle, you won’t need to bring your car to a dealership for a hardware upgrade since the Sync system features Bluetooth compatibility. The other advantage of using Bluetooth LE is that your car won’t need to see pedestrians and cyclists before it can warn you. Ford and T-Mobile are also working on a version of the app that uses 5G instead of Bluetooth LE.

In practice, the company’s approach is reminiscent of the COVID exposure notification apps some countries and states deployed at the beginning of the pandemic. As you may recall, those also used Bluetooth LE. However, despite backing from Apple and Google, they were never effective due to low usage. In Canada, for instance, the federal COVID Alert app was only downloaded 6.9 million times and logged 63,117 positive tests. Put another way, nowhere near enough Canadians downloaded the software to make it an effective contact tracing tool. Ford’s app is likely to experience some of the same issues. 

As an avid cyclist, I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen riding their bikes at night without an LED light to make themselves visible to traffic. On the other hand, statistics suggest motorists have been driving more aggressively in recent years, leading to the aforementioned increase in cyclist deaths as well as vehicle crashes. Any kind of intervention would be welcome, but Ford’s app isn’t likely to be a meaningful solution if it ever comes to market. While the Bluetooth LE solution to COVID had only one uphill climb, apps like Ford’s have two: adoption by cyclists and adoption by automakers.

Uber claims hack came from Lapsus$, the group behind Microsoft and T-Mobile attacks

Uber believes it has identified the team behind last week’s hack, and the name will sound all too familiar. In an update on the breach, Uber said the perpetrator was affiliated with Lapsus$, the hacking group that has targeted tech firms like Microsoft, Samsung and T-Mobile. The same intruder might also have been responsible for the Rockstar hack that leaked Grand Theft Auto VI, Uber said.

It’s also clearer just how the culprit may have accessed Uber’s internal systems. The attacker likely bought the contractor’s login details on the dark web after they’d been exposed through a malware-infected computer. Two-factor authentication initially prevented the hacker from getting in, but the contractor accepted an authentication request — that was enough to help the invader compromise employee accounts and, in turn, abuse company apps like Google Workspace and Slack.

As before, Uber stressed that the hacker didn’t access public-facing systems or user accounts. The codebase also remains untouched. While those responsible did compromise Uber’s bug bounty program, any vulnerability reports involved have been “remediated.” Uber contained the hack by limiting compromised accounts, temporarily disabling tools and resetting access to services. There’s also extra monitoring for unusual activity.

The incident update suggests the damage to Uber is relatively limited. However, it also indicates that Lapsus$ is still hacking high-profile targets despite arrests. It also underscores major tech companies’ continued vulnerability to hacks. In this case, one wrong move by a contractor was all it took to disrupt Uber’s operations.